(Ampanivana, Kaominina Andrembesoa, Departementa Betafo, Faritra Vakinankaratra, Faritany Antananarivo, Madagasikara)
A gem mine worked on a granite pegmatite located 15 km south of Antsongombato gem mine, ca. 40 km southwest of Mahaiza and some 10s km west of the administrative center of Andrembesoa north of the river Mania in the central highland of Madagascar.
NOTE: "In 1999 very nice pices of marbles with blue spinels, clinohumites and forsterite started to show up in Antsirabe. Some of the dealers said they were coming from Ampanivana, but i was also told from reliable sources that the very locality was a place called Itrafo, more closer to the Mania River than Ampanivana. Unfortunately I was not able to visit the site at the time. I have so far not been able to locate the place on local maps- which is not so uncommon in Madagascar though.
Until controllable reliable data on the provenance of the spinels etc said to come from Ampanivana is available, i would suggest that they should be labelled From "Ampanivana area" etc." (Knut Edvard Larsen information in http://www.mindat.org/mesg-7-76995.html)
Ref.:
F. Pezzotta: Madagascar. Das Paradies der Mineralien und Edelsteine. Extra -Lapis No.17, p.68
